‘I know him very well’: Trump says Putin is not going to attack NATO territory

U.S. President Donald Trump said at a White House briefing that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not intend to attack NATO countries.A reporter reminded Trump that Germany had accused Russia of orchestrating sabotage at Leipzig Airport and asked whether such actions by Moscow amounted to an attack on NATO.“I don’t think that Putin will be… I speak to him. I know him very well. Putin’s not looking to attack NATO territory,” Trump said.Trump also said his envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, are traveling to Moscow and Kyiv with a proposal to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.In late August, Bloomberg said that European officials are confident there is no evidence Russia is preparing to attack NATO or the Baltic states. They doubt the issue could have been the main topic of CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s August 25 visit to Moscow. U.S. media outlets reported that Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow to warn the Kremlin against attacking NATO countries, particularly Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.